| 10th World Youth Team Championship | Page 2 | Bulletin 10 - Wednesday 17 August 2005 |
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Semifinal Hand Stories An Elegant Ending - by Ron Klinger If you simply glance down at a scorecard when looking for deals to report, it is easy to miss a pretty play when there is no swing, especially if it is a partscore. Take a look at this board from the second session of the semi-finals:
In Canada versus USA1, the bidding started the same way at both tables:
At one table this was passed out. At the other, Southreopened with 2NT, both minors with longer clubs, and West bid 3♠ at once. Both declarers were one down after a club lead. France v Poland:
Lead: ♠A At trick two, South shifted to the ♣J, taken by the ace and the ♠Q fetched the king. North shifted to the ♥6, won by the ace and South carefully unblocked the ♥K. The ♠J drew the last trump. Declarer discarded a heart loser on the third club and exited with a heart. North naturally overtook South’s ♥10 and switched to the ♦6. That was one down for +100 to Poland. At the other table:
Lead: ♠3 This looked like a swing to Poland. South has to lose three trump tricks and the ♥A, and how can he avoid a diamond loser if the opponents hold off on the first round of hearts, assuming South starts with the ♥K? De Tessieres showed us how. He won the spade lead and led the ♣J, ducked to the queen. Back came the ♠5. Most of us would throw a diamond loser, win with the ♠K and take a diamond finesse. At the end of the day we would lose a diamond for one down. Despite dummy having no sure re-entry, De Tessieres ruffed the ♠5 and played the ♥K, ducked, followed by the ♥10, taken by the ace. A spade from East now would allow declarer to pitch two diamond losers and finesse the ♦Q to make the contract. East therefore returned the ♣4, to West’s ace. As he could not afford a major-suit exit, West played the ♦2 to the king and ace. This was the position:
De Tessieres cashed the ♦Q and exited with a trump. East won and, as he had only major-suit cards left, away went South’s diamond losers. 3NT the Hard Way - by Ron Klinger All four tables played in 3NT on this deal from the third session of the semi-finals. In each match one declarer succeeded while the other failed.
Canada v USA1
Lead: ♦5 Declarer won with the ♦K and led the ♠5: four king three. A heart to the ace was followed by the ♠9 to the queen. Declarer exited with the ♣5 from dummy and North flew ace to return the ♦J. The ♦A was cashed and South threw the ♠8. Declarer cashed the ♥K and was one down for +50 to Canada.
Lead: ♠2 Declarer ducked in dummy and won with the ♠9. He continued with the ♠5: ten king and North discarded the ♦J. The ♠Q came next, ducked by South, with North and East throwing clubs. When the ♣5 was played North played the ♣10 and declarer the ♣K, followed by the ♣2 to North’s ace. North shifted to the ♦10, taken by the king, and the next club went to South. When South did not cash the ♠A, declarer had the rest of the tricks for +460 and11 IMPs to Canada. That was 3NT the easy way. France v Poland
Lead: ♥4 North played the ♥J on dummy’s ♥9 and East won to play the ♠5: four king three. Dummy’s ♦2 went to the jack and king, and East continued with the ♠9 to the queen. North pitched the ♦10. On the ♣5, North grabbed the ace since he could lock declarer in dummy. The ♦6 went to the ace and declarer cashed the ♦Q, South discarding the ♣8. The low heart from dummy was taken by North’s ♥Q and he cashed the diamond winner. The heart return leftdeclarer in dummy to lose the last two spades for one down; +50 to Poland.
Lead: ♦J This was the only table where West was declarer. The ♦J lead went to the ace and declarer played the ♣5: four king eight. Had he known clubs were 3-3, he could have continued clubs and had an easy time with four club tricks and five red-suit winners. However, with one club trick in the bag, it was natural to try for three spade winners. How hard could that be? At trick three, the ♠5 went to the king, followed by the ♠Q. Bad news, as North discarded the ♣10. South took the ♠A and played the ♦5 to the king. Declarer reverted to clubs to North’s ace, discarding the ♥9 from hand. North exited with the ♦10 to the queen, South letting the ♥3 go. This was now the position:
East cashed the ♥A and ♥K and exited from hand with the ♠7. South won with the ♠8 and cashed the ♣Q, but declarer had the last two tricks. Declarer had made 3NT the hard way for +400 and 10 IMPs to Poland. France v Poland The last set of the semi-final match between France and Poland featured two huge swings, one to each team, as France desperately tried to turn the match around.
Thomas Bessis agreed hearts then co-operated with adiamond cuebid, but Julian Gaviard was not prepared to go past game with no spade control and slow club losers and Bessis in turn was not willing to risk the five level with his minimum hand and weak trumps. Gaviard ducked the spade lead to the king and later played diamonds from the top so had three discards for his little clubs; twelve tricks for +680. Krzysztof Buras forced to game with his initial response then showed his balanced hand with strength in the unbid suits. When Konrad Araskiewicz went on with 4], he had to be strong so Buras cuebid, confirmed that he held first-round spade control, then showed his key cards. Against 6], the lead was again a spade. Araskiewicz ducked to the king and back came a second spade. He cashed all but one of the trumps then finessed the jack of diamonds and now had no way to get to the three winners stranded in dummy. On the club switch, he conceded four down for -400 and 14 IMPs to France. Of course, playing diamonds from the top would have made the slam, but that was heavily against the odds.
I prefer Gaviard’s weak jump to Araskiewicz’s simple overcall but it was Araskiewicz whose side won the board. After the simple overcall, Olivier Bessis made the obvious raise to 2♥ and, as French style is that this will always deliver four-card support, Godefroy De Tessieres raised himself to game. De Tessieres ducked the lead of the ♠K and Araskiewicz switched to a club for the queen and ace. Now we saw the benefit of the simple 1♠ overcall, as that call suggested high cards where 2♠ would have suggested length but overall weakness. Declarer played the king of hearts next and could not recover. He played a econd heart to the ten and queen and back came a third round. De Tessieres played the ♣J and Buras took the king to play a fourth trump. Now the eight of clubs tom the ten followed by a losing diamond finesse meant that Buras had the ♣9 to cash for down two; -200. Though Jacek Kalita also showed four-card heart support, Krzysztof Kotorowicz suggested 3NT as an alternative contract in the other room. Having no real shortage, Kalita left him to play in 3NT, even after Thomas Bessis doubled, liking his club holding. Gaviard duly led a club to the queen and ace and Kotorowicz promptly made the key play when he got the hearts right, leading to the ace then passing the jack. When the ♥J scored, Kotorowicz played the ♣J to the king and Bessis switched to a spade. Declarer ducked two rounds of spades and Gaviard switched to a diamond. When the finesse lost, declarer had the rest for +750 and 14 IMPs to Poland. The rest of the set went in favour of Poland, who won it by 36-20 IMPs and ran out comfortable winners of the match. |
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